First internet user banned under French three-strikes rule

France's three-strikes anti-piracy law has been used to impose a temporary ban on an internet user for the first time.

A district court in Paris suspended the defendant's connection for two weeks and fined them €600 (£510/$800) under the terms of the Hadopi legislation, after repeated warnings not to download copyrighted material were ignored.

However, the ban may never come into effect as the law states that convicted users must still be granted access to email, and may continue to use telephone and television services if they subscribe to a package deal, ZDNet reports.

Furthermore, French culture minister Aurélie Filippetti announced during the Cannes Film Festival that plans are in motion to shelve the Haopi law.